A story inspired by Disney's Aladdin

By Eva Luz Villalón Turrubiates

11/05/98=======================================================

"Only three more days....."

Her father had told her that morning.

"Only three more days....."

Those words were rolling constantly in Jasmine's head that night.... only three more days...three more days to decide a lifetime.....

She rolled on her bed, sighing sadly, and stared at the ceiling for a long moment. It seemed to her that her duty as the Princess of Agrabah was nothing more than marrying a Prince and, eventually, bearing an heir to the throne. She was nothing but a prize to be won.

Whoever married her was going to be Agrabah's next Sultan. And that was all that really mattered to all of those suitors. Agrabah's throne. But what about her?

All those princes, all those suitors... and not even one of them, not even a single one of them had ever mentioned the word "love".

"I am....."

"I have...."

That was all they were always saying... or bragging, that is.

She sighed. All she wanted was a nice, sweet man. Someone who could understand her. Who could love her for who she was. But who was she? She was Jasmine and just Jasmine. Her royal title meant nothing to her. She was a woman who needed love; who needed understanding; who needed someone to trust in; who needed someone to love; someone who loved her in return, without conditions. She was a woman who needed to feel herself safe in someone's arms. In someone's heart.

"I just want to make sure you're taken care of, provided for".

The words of her father echoed in her head. Not even her father had ever mentioned the word "love". Taken care of.... provided for..... but what about love? She knew her father meant well. But security was not enough for her in a relationship. She felt that her father considered her as a useless woman who couldn't take care of herself. And that bothered her a lot.

Maybe she was just a hopeless romantic, but what about love? If she married, she wanted it to be for love. Why couldn't her father understand that? He and her mother married for love. The Sultan wanted her to be safe and protected but why didn't he want her to be loved too? Not only married for the Kingdom's sake... but for her own sake... for her own love.

Jasmine left her bed carefully, trying not to wake Rajah, who was laying on the floor. She went outside, to her balcony. It was a cold night. Almost as cold as her heart was. She leaned on the rail, as she used to, and stared at Agrabah, getting lost in her thoughts. That was her city, her kingdom... and she had never been outside the palace walls. Oh, how she longed to visit the city.... if only for a moment.

Three more days.... the dreaded words came to her mind again.... "Two more days" she said to herself, sighing sadly. She was running out of time. Somehow she knew she couldn't escape the law. Two more days and she'd be a wife.... and she didn't even know who her husband was going to be.... "It would be wonderful to see the world outside this palace... to be free... if only for a moment", she said.

The cold air caressed her face. She closed her eyes, wondering what kind of wonders that city could hide in its streets and alleyways... in its marketplace.... there was so much she wanted to know. She looked at the sleeping city. Agrabah was so beautiful under the moonlight.

Suddenly she felt that need become stronger.... the need of freedom. She could feel a great force growing within her heart. A powerful force. Something inside her was telling her to escape.... to jump the palace walls and explore the world.... to find herself... something was asking her to give herself a chance... a chance to know... a chance to learn... a chance to be free.... and maybe even a chance to love.... it was her heart pleading her to let it make that decision.

She shook her head. It was crazy. She could never do that. She had never let her heart make a decision before. In fact, all her decisions were always taken by her father and the other people of the palace. At that moment she realized how trapped she really was.

"It's my life", she thought, "I just can't let these people have my life lived for me.... I can't let these people choose a husband for me.... I can't let them tell me that I'm only dreaming... No, I can't stay here any longer.... I must find my own destiny. I must make my own future... I have to live my own life..."

For a moment she thought of her mother. Could things have gone any differently if she were still alive? Would she support her? Would she approve her decision?

Why was she being forced into this? Why did her father have to be so strict with the law? Why couldn't she choose her own husband with total freedom and not
being pushed by the time?

She realized that if she stayed she would be forever trapped. Trapped in a world that was not the world she wanted to live in. Trapped in a life that was not her life. Trapped in a palace, having the whole world outside to explore, to discover, to see its wonders. And worst of all, trapped with a man who would only see her as his way to inherit Agrabah's throne. She would be his trophy, his price.... nothing more.

It was the time.... the time to decide... to stay or to leave... to be the Princess of Agrabah or just Jasmine... to live her own life or to give up.... it was now or never....

"I've never been outside", she thought, "that is a whole new world for me.... how could I survive? What should I do? Where should I go? What will be outside, waiting for me?"

She rested her head in her arms, still gazing at the city of Agrabah.

"Maybe", she thought dreamily, "maybe I even could find true love out there.... maybe someone is waiting for me somewhere in Agrabah.... who knows what the future holds for me?" -she shook her head- "I know what my future is if I stay here.." and getting lost in the image of the city below her she added: "But what if....?" she didn't end her thought.

That was crazy but she couldn't help that growing feeling inside her heart. She closed her eyes and smiled as she contemplated the man of her dreams. The image she had formed in her heart of the man she would love. Her true love. That handsome face that she remembered maybe from a dream. In her dreams he was always there. She dreamed that someday she would find him... or maybe he would find her.

The man in her dreams was not a conceited prince. Why, he didn't even had to be a prince to win her love. The man of her dreams was only a kind and nice young man. Someone who would love her above everything else. Someone who would respect her. Someone who would love her for who she was. He would be her very best friend, her ally, her partner, even her accomplice... he would be the one who would keep her secrets, the one who would share her dreams, the one who would keep her love.... and the one who would share the world with her. He would be the one who would keep her forever loved and forever safe.

She looked at the city once again, determination in her eyes. "Just two more days", she thought again.... it was almost dawn. She took a deep breath and told to herself: "I cannot stay here any longer... this is my time.... I'm going to find my own destiny... to live my own life...."

In a rush she ran out of her room, trying to not wake Rajah. Once she was in the hallway she went to the servant's quarters and borrowed some peasant clothes so she could disguise herself once she were in the city. She stopped in the menagerie's door. She was about to return and write a note for her father to explain to him why she had run away. But she felt that in the moment she returned inside the palace or in the moment she wrote that letter she would lose her courage. She went outside, to the menagerie and took a quick look over her shoulder to her father's window. "Good-bye father..." she whispered. "It is time.... time to jump the walls in my life and to be free... well, here goes..."

Jasmine gazed at the solitude and darkness of the menagerie for a second but she told herself that she had to be brave and strong. Her heart had made its decision. She took a deep breath and made her way across the lonely menagerie. What she didn't know at that moment was that in making that brave decision she had forever changed her life.... and the life of that prince she kept in her dreams.

The End

You can e-mail the author at: villalon@tamnet.com.mx.